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Game of traits: diatom functionality in a changing landscape
No full textTemporary ponds (TPs) are ephemeral freshwater habitats underlying seasonal drying creating highly dynamic environments. Here, for the first time, we focused on the trait analysis of benthic diatom communities along an elevational and seasonal gradient, aiming at: a) analysing taxonomic and functional α diversity indices variations; b) discerning whether or not seasonality and elevation affected taxonomic and functional β diversity; c) investigating the main physical and chemical factors influencing diatom communities. Among the seasonal changes, diatom guild-based communities exhibited significant variations only for high-profile guild. Seasonality appeared not influencing diatom taxonomic and functional α diversity, while the effect of elevation was statistically significant for taxonomic Shannon (TSha), Simpson (TSim) and Evenness (TEve). Furthermore, our results highlighted that neither seasonality nor elevation significantly influenced total taxonomic and functional β diversity, with the turnover component accounting for most of the observed variation. However, taxonomic β diversity showed substantial seasonal and elevational fluctuations, unlike functional β diversity, which was not driven by neither elevation nor seasonality. Physical parameters (Temperature, pH) exerted a significant influence on taxonomic α diversity, while Oxygen Reduction Potential and Total Dissolved Solids were identified as the main drivers of diatom functional α diversity. Differently, changes in Temperature, Resistivity and Dissolved oxygen emerged as important predictors for shaping elevational taxonomic β diversity. Our results emphasize the importance of considering multiple facets of biodiversity when investigating diatom communities in temporary ponds, as different aspects may exhibit distinct patterns and be shaped by different ecological drivers, particularly in high-elevation systems
AI Act e legge italiana: tanta scena, poca sostanza e nuovi rischi
No full textIl contributo analizza il rapporto tra la legge italiana n. 132 del 23 settembre 2025 e il Regolamento (UE) 2024/1689 (AI Act), valutando se la normativa nazionale si configuri come utile strumento di integrazione oppure come fonte ridondante e potenzialmente confliggente con la logica di uniformità propria della disciplina europea.
L'analisi muove dall'esame dell'AI Act quale corpus normativo pervasivo e in costante evoluzione, per poi ripercorrere l'iter della legge italiana — dal disegno di legge approvato dal Consiglio dei ministri nell'aprile 2024 fino alla pubblicazione in Gazzetta Ufficiale — con particolare attenzione alle modifiche imposte dalla Commissione europea in sede di procedura di informazione sulle regole tecniche.
Il lavoro si articola attorno a quattro profili critici: le questioni interpretative e definitorie; il rischio di gold-plating nelle disposizioni settoriali (sanità, lavoro, giustizia, pubblica amministrazione); l'assetto di governance affidato ad AGID e ACN; la disciplina di dati e algoritmi in rapporto ai diritti fondamentali.
Le conclusioni evidenziano come la legge italiana, pur dichiarando formalmente il rispetto del quadro europeo, tenda più a complicare che a rafforzare la disciplina, introducendo principi ridondanti, obblighi settoriali sovrapposti e un sistema istituzionale farraginoso, con il rischio concreto di frammentazione normativa e incertezza applicativa per gli operatori economici.
Il contributo analizza il rapporto tra la legge italiana n. 132 del 23 settembre 2025 e il Regolamento (UE) 2024/1689 (AI Act), valutando se la normativa nazionale si configuri come utile strumento di integrazione oppure come fonte ridondante e potenzialmente confliggente con la logica di uniformità propria della disciplina europea.
L'analisi muove dall'esame dell'AI Act quale corpus normativo pervasivo e in costante evoluzione, per poi ripercorrere l'iter della legge italiana — dal disegno di legge approvato dal Consiglio dei ministri nell'aprile 2024 fino alla pubblicazione in Gazzetta Ufficiale — con particolare attenzione alle modifiche imposte dalla Commissione europea in sede di procedura di informazione sulle regole tecniche.
Il lavoro si articola attorno a quattro profili critici: le questioni interpretative e definitorie; il rischio di *gold-plating* nelle disposizioni settoriali (sanità, lavoro, giustizia, pubblica amministrazione); l'assetto di governance affidato ad AGID e ACN; la disciplina di dati e algoritmi in rapporto ai diritti fondamentali.
Le conclusioni evidenziano come la legge italiana, pur dichiarando formalmente il rispetto del quadro europeo, tenda più a complicare che a rafforzare la disciplina, introducendo principi ridondanti, obblighi settoriali sovrapposti e un sistema istituzionale farraginoso, con il rischio concreto di frammentazione normativa e incertezza applicativa per gli operatori economici.This paper analyzes the relationship between Italian Law No. 132 of 23 September 2025 and Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the AI Act), assessing whether the national legislation functions as a useful instrument of integration and complementarity or rather as a redundant and potentially conflicting source with respect to the uniformity rationale underlying the European framework.
The analysis begins with an examination of the AI Act as a pervasive and constantly evolving regulatory corpus, before tracing the legislative history of the Italian law — from the draft bill approved by the Council of Ministers in April 2024 through to its publication in the Official Gazette — with particular attention to the amendments required by the European Commission in the context of the technical rules notification procedure.
The paper is structured around four critical profiles: interpretive and definitional issues; the risk of gold-plating in sector-specific provisions (healthcare, employment, justice, public administration); the governance framework entrusted to AGID and ACN; and the regulation of data and algorithms in relation to fundamental rights.
The conclusions highlight that Italian Law No. 132, while formally declaring compliance with the European framework, tends to complicate rather than reinforce the applicable discipline, introducing redundant principles, overlapping sectoral obligations, and a cumbersome institutional architecture — giving rise to a concrete risk of regulatory fragmentation and legal uncertainty for economic operators
A Failed Attempt Toward a Multilayered Safety Net. The Asian Monetary Fund
No full textIn September 1997, soon after the collapse of the Thai baht in July and the subsequent outburst of the East-Asian currency crisis, the Japanese Finance Minister proposed the creation of a $100 billion Asian Monetary Fund. The proposal excluded any involvement from the USA and the IMF, causing their violent negative reaction. Although such initiative would radically change the course of regional financial integration in East-Asia and the global balance of power in the forthcoming decades, it received attention only by very specialized authors, who concentrated on single, fragmented explanations of an issue that was multifaceted and complex. The aim of this paper is to reappraise this episode reconstructing the intertwined relationships between – and highlighting the relative role of – economic theories, financial dynamics, and political/strategic considerations. And stressing how it resulted in a missed opportunity to build a multi-layered system of global safety nets for crisis management
Le sparizioni forzate in America Latina. Storia di un crimine transnazionale, a cura di Laura Fotia e Luigi Guarnieri Calò Carducci
No full textWe live in the same planet but are we on the same boat? : An analysis of the distributive impacts of the climate crisis through the model TITANIC
No full textThis thesis investigates how the climate change physical risks influence income distribution in Italy, a Global North country highly exposed to climate risks due to its Mediterranean location. To address this question, after the introduction and literature review, Chapter 3 develops TITANIC (Temperatures Impact and Transitions Analysis: Navigating Inequalities and Climate), an Ecological Stock–Flow Consistent Input–Output model that includes a 26 industries disaggregation of the productive sector and the disaggregation of the household sector into three social classes (Workers, Managers, and Capitalists). Chapter 4 is dedicated to the model’s calibration procedure, that uses data from multiple sources including, national accounts (EUROSTAT), Input-Output tables (EXIOBASE), surveys (SHIW), and many others (INPS, EU-KLEMS, ISTAT, IPCC). The model’s climate scenario is SSP3.70. This procedure uses the model structure and an empirical estimation of some equations to generate a baseline scenario which is then confronted with scenarios that include climate damages. The final two chapters (5 and 6) display the results of the Demographic Effects and of the Chronic and Acute Supply Side Physical Risks. Simulation results show that climate change impacts significantly the economy. The effects propagate unevenly across classes, amplifying pre-existing inequalities under most, but not all, scenarios. Moreover, when multiple risks are considered, the combined effect is typically different than the sum of the individual effect, because the former is the result of a non-linear interaction of the latters. In conclusion, by combining ecological and distributional perspectives, the thesis contributes to understanding how climate change directly reshapes economic structures and social equity, allowing a clear identification of the impact of each physical risk channel
THE DRIVERS OF INCOME INEQUALITY AND ELECTORAL BEHAVIOUR IN ITALY
No full textThis thesis has two main aims. First, it investigates the main determinants of income inequality in Italy at the provincial level between 2004 and 2019. Two income definitions are employed: market income—the sum of financial and rental income and labour income including social security contributions and taxes, but excluding pensions and monetary transfers—and gross income, which adds government cash transfers such as old-age pensions. This distinction allows the analysis to capture the role of redistributive policies. Income inequality is examined using the Gini index and across the income distribution at the 20th, 40th, 60th, 80th, and 100th percentiles. The results indicate a non-linear relationship between economic growth and income inequality: lower-income groups benefit at low levels of GDP, but their gains diminish at higher levels of GDP, whereas top-income groups do not benefit at low GDP levels and experience increasing gains at higher levels of GDP. Redistribution appears to mitigate adverse outcomes for lower-income groups at high levels of GDP and, more generally, has a smoothing effect across the income distribution, except for top-income groups. These findings are confirmed by the IV strategy. Labour-market structures are key correlates of inequality: public-sector and manufacturing employment are associated with lower inequality, while part-time work erodes income for lower- and middle-income groups. Pensions and regular immigration consistently reduce inequality, whereas technological change contributes to labour-market polarisation. Overall, income gains remain uneven, reflecting persistent structural and institutional characteristics of the Italian economy. Second, the thesis explores how changes in income distribution are associated with electoral behaviour at the municipal level from 2001 to 2022, covering six elections to the Chamber of Deputies. The analysis focuses on voter turnout—which has declined over time—and on voting patterns for major political parties, assessing whether the effect of inequality on electoral behaviour is mediated by municipal income levels. The results indicate that income inequality is unevenly associated with electoral behaviour: it correlates with lower turnout in poorer municipalities and higher participation in wealthier ones. This asymmetry extends to party preferences, with inequality negatively associated with PD support in low-income areas, positively associated with FdI, and not significantly related to Forza Italia. A geographical dimension also emerges, with inequality shaping electoral behaviour primarily in well-connected central areas, while no systematic association appears in inner areas
Evidence for the Collective Nature of Radial Flow in Pb+Pb Collisions with the ATLAS Detector
No full textAnisotropic flow and radial flow are two key probes of the expansion dynamics and properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). While anisotropic flow has been extensively studied, radial flow, which governs the system’s radial expansion, has received less attention. Notably, direct experimental evidence for the global and collective nature of radial flow fluctuations has been lacking. This Letter presents the first measurement of transverse momentum ((Formula presented)) dependence of radial flow fluctuations ((Formula presented)) over (Formula presented) and demonstrates its collective nature using a two-particle correlation method in (Formula presented) collisions at (Formula presented). The data reveal three key features supporting the collective nature of radial flow: long-range correlation in pseudorapidity, factorization in (Formula presented), and centrality-independent shape in (Formula presented). The comparison with a hydrodynamic model demonstrates the sensitivity of (Formula presented) to bulk viscosity, a crucial transport property of the QGP. These findings establish a new, powerful tool for probing collective dynamics and properties of the QGP
Deep Learning for Dynamic Slant Channel Modeling in Underwater Wireless Optical Communications
No full textIntroduzione. Il mondo di Petrarca. Luoghi, ambienti, contesti culturali
No full textIntroduzione al volume che contiene le relazioni presentate al convegno Il mondo di Petrarca. Luoghi, ambienti, contesti culturali, organizzato dal Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell’Università Roma Tre con la collaborazione dell’Accademia Petrarca di Scienze Lettere e Arti e tenutosi ad Arezzo, presso la Casa del Petrarca, il 10 e 11 aprile 2025. Obiettivo dell’incontro di studio è stato seguire la vita di Petrarca attraverso i luoghi in cui egli è vissuto e ha operato, con il fine di ricostruire le ragioni storiche dei suoi diversi soggiorni e di offrire un quadro dettagliato del contesto storico e culturale degli ambienti politici e letterari locali da lui frequentati o con i quali è entrato in contatto. Particolare attenzione – nel quadro del Prin dedicato ai manoscritti petrarcheschi in Italia, di cui il convegno è parte – è stata dedicata fin dalla fase organizzativa all’elucidazione dei contesti culturali e al loro legame con la produzione letteraria di Petrarca
Adaptation of maximum power point tracking controller for damaged wind turbines
No full textWind energy is essential for sustainable energy production, but its growth faces challenges. Wind turbines endure harsh conditions, such as rain, ice, dust, and sea spray, causing erosion and degrading aerodynamics. In this study, we address the relevant issue of leading-edge blade erosion. Initially, the power loss due to erosion will be quantified, considering three severity levels. Subsequently, a controller tuning strategy will be implemented to mitigate these losses during operation. Numerous design load cases (DLCs), each with different seeds, are necessary to achieve statistical significance. Therefore, it was decided to integrate the OpenFAST medium-fidelity software with high-fidelity CFD simulations to characterize erosion and quantify its effects. An initial evaluation of the aerodynamic coefficient maps was performed for the different levels of erosion. Subsequently, the potential gain was quantified by tuning the control strategy. Two sites were selected for the calculation of the Annual Energy Production (AEP) with medium-low wind speeds. Furthermore, a gain scheduling strategy that varies according to erosion and wind speed was considered, achieving positive results and an increase in AEP of up to 0.7% in the most severe case. This was achieved without any modifications to the turbine, but exclusively by acting on the existing controller